Social networking has become a phenomenon, with the majority of the population constantly connected to the Web. Interacting with news feeds, tweets and blog posts has become a daily necessity for most of the tech savvy. Now, this virtual networking universe has infiltrated the business world.
Connecting over 60 million professionals worldwide, online networking site LinkedIn provides a place for the exchanging of information, ideas and opportunities. According to the site, experienced professionals representing over 150 industries and 200 countries have created profiles and are ready to collaborate.
“I’ve been on LinkedIn for three years,” said Kelly Everling, an assistant professor of public relations. “It’s been good to collect contacts in one area and then to see the contacts of my colleagues expand onto that. I’ve been able to strike business deals because of those.”
Everling strongly encourages her students to link with her to join special interest groups and create relationships with professionals around the world.
“One of my former students is abroad in Europe right now, and I told her to go through my contact list to look for people to meet with,” Everling said. “She was able to job shadow with someone in Italy and London, which I consider a success story.”
Adjunct instructor of management and international business Timothy Johnson collaborated with a former student to create a group for Drake business graduate students on LinkedIn, which has grown steadily since its creation 18 months ago.
Johnson has been able to gain book endorsements, radio interviews and connections with colleagues and peers from all over the globe using the question and answer function that LinkedIn offers.
“I absolutely encourage my students to embrace social media,” Johnson said. “I maintain a class blog for every class I teach, and I encourage them to try out Facebook and Twitter as well.”
Having created a network of over 200 people, assistant professor of practice in marketing Mary Edrington has found LinkedIn beneficial from both a teaching and personal perspective.
“In my professional life, I have used LinkedIn for contacts and consulting,” Edrington said. “It has been successful to help students find internships, full time jobs and volunteer opportunities.”
Alumni are encouraged to continue to connect with the university past their graduation by creating profiles on various social networking sites, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr and Twitter. Edrington says alumni have had terrific success finding specific corporations and jobs through their networks.
Despite LinkedIn’s advantages, Everling warns against inappropriate use of the site.
“There has been backlash about constant updates on profiles,” Everling said. “People on LinkedIn use it for professional use, not personal. You need to use caution with up-to-the-minute updates. It is not Facebook.”
However, Everling believes LinkedIn provides a wide array of opportunities for students, of which they should take full advantage.
“Students should capitalize on the contacts of their professors, intern coordinators and mentors,” Everling said. “Students can collect contacts and build their own online brand.”
Besides its Web site, LinkedIn also has made networking available through a downloadable iTunes application and Twitter profile.
“The world continues to grow smaller while our potential to network grows larger,” Johnson said. “To ignore the tools available to us is to ignore our own careers.”
